Moira and Nathan

[x-mactaggart.livejournal.com]

Nathan staggers into their rooms exhausted and Moira and he banter before deciding to go to bed. This certainly does not stop the bantering, even if Nathan's still unsettled and not wanting the evil little green pills.



Moira was through half of the Godvia chocolate ice cream before she even really realized she had started eating it. With a sigh, she peered into the container and then shrugged. It wasn't _that_ big, overall, and she was still hungry and damn it, this was hitting the spot. If she finished it, the craving might finally go away and leave her in piece.

The door opened and Nathan stepped into the suite. He paused for a moment, bracing himself against the doorframe with one hand and covering an enormous yawn with the other. "Hi," he said, his eyes watering a little as he spotted her on the couch.

"Hi yerself," she responded after swallowing the latest mouthful of ice cream. She shifted, careful not to overbalance the stack of papers currently laying on her stomach and legs and gave him a look. "Ye looked exhausted. Long day?"

"Not any longer than usual." Nathan flopped down into one of the armchairs, sighing. "Are you going to scowl at me if I put off the evil little green pills one more night? I'm still hoping I'll sleep normally."

"See this? This is me scowlin' face."

"I hate them," Nathan muttered, slouching in the chair, knowing he was whining just a little. "Make me feel so groggy, and then if I dream I can't wake up."

"I know, love." Moira sighed and thought for a second, digging out another spoonful of ice cream. "Okay, one more night. But if'n ye dinnae sleep well tonight, then ye've got ta take them. At least for a wee bit." She paused long enough to eat and then looked at him. "Do ye put up this much o' a fight w' other doctors or jus' me?" she teased.

"I save it all for you. I do it out of love." Nathan gave her a meek look that softened into a warm, concerned smile. She looked tired, he thought, but not alarmingly so. As hard as she was working on Hank's problem, the baby was being demanding enough that she couldn't pull his not-sleeping trick. Her body just wouldn't let her.

"Oh aye, I love ye ta. Smart ass." Moira blinked at him over the ice cream, at the look he was giving her. "Whaaaa'?" she drew out, tilting her head slightly.

"You're doing the glowing thing again," Nathan said, then made a show of looking around. "Where are my sunglasses?"

Carefully, she reached behind her and took a small pillow and chucked it at his head. "I am _nay_ glowin'," she huffed.

He froze the pillow in mid-air. "Why do you object so strenuously to that?" he said with a chuckle, pushing himself up out of the chair with some effort and plucking the pillow out of the air as he came over to the couch.

"Show off." Though she didn't protest when he gently picked up her feet and settled them on his lap as he sat on the couch. "Reflex, mostly, I guess. Besides, I sometimes miss our arguin' matches." Moira grinned at him. "God, we used ta get inta such th' rows back on Muir."

"Back when we were both younger and far more excitable," Nathan mused, leaning back into the cushions with a sigh. "Remember... what was it, the third year? When I showed up with a couple of bullet holes and we had that screaming row about how I was a careless idiot and you were an overprotective harpy?" It was a sign of just how tired he was that he was having trouble remembering whether it had been his third or fourth visit to Muir.

Giggling, she nodded. "I think they 'eard us on th' main land. Ye were fightin' even while I was stichin' up those wounds o' yers. An' after once ye woke up from th' drugs I gave ye."

He smiled, but his expression was a bit distant as something Jack had said came back to him. "It's not like I've ever led a particularly safe life," he said after a moment. "But it's really kind of been stupid, this last year. I don't think I'm being careless, but I keep winding up in that damned medlab." He smiled a bit faintly at her. "Not that the human scenery down there isn't quite easy on the ice," he bantered a bit weakly.

Carefully, she poked him in the ribs with her foot, right in the spot where she knew he was ticklish at. "Aye, but ye get th' same scenery in th' bedroom," she pointed out, dryly. "Ye 'ave been...rather enthusastic this year, come ta think 'bout it. Any reason why?"

He yelped a little at the poke, catching her foot. "Enthusiastic... that's a nice euphemism. And I don't know... shit keeps happening around me?" He sighed. "I'm tired," he said more quietly. "And you know, the headache from brain sprain number whatever the fuck it is still hasn't gone away."

The ice cream was done and it was getting late...Moira sat up and started putting everyone on the floor next to the couch. It could wait until morning. "Come on, ye," she said, grabbing Nathan's hand. "We can talk in bed, aye?"

"Bed is good," Nathan said, helping her up off the couch. They headed into the bedroom, and Nathan gave her a brief, crooked smile. "I can sense you plotting to steal another one of my shirts already."

Her eyes widened and she tried to look like the perfect picture of innocent. "Who me? Why would I do a thin' like tha'?"

"You're a devious shirt-stealing Scotswoman, and you need to be very carefully watched." Okay, yes, he was sounding sleep-deprived. He gave her hand a squeeze before letting it go, and started to get changed him, leaving it to her to decide which of his shirts she wanted.

Snickering slightly, Moira did immediately go for his shirts and started poking around. Finally, she found a nice blue one that looked comfortable and started to change. Eyeing her belly as she removed her shirt, she hrmed. "Nay as big as I was around this time wit' Kevin," she mused.

Nathan got his shirt off and looked back at her. "You're beautiful," he said softly. "In case I hadn't mentioned that lately."

A part of her wanted to make a sarcastic comment but she held her tongue and smiled back at Nathan. "Thank ye, love," she said, fondly. "Yer nay bad on th' eyes, either."

Nathan looked down at himself, raising an eyebrow for a moment. "Just a little dinged around the edges, huh?" he asked, then shook his head. "Sorry," he said a bit quizzically. "I don't know what's with me tonight."

Tossing her jeans into the nether regions of the room--tomorrow she'd clean--Moira went over to where Nathan was still changing and slide her arms around him from behind. "Ye've always been dinged around th' edges, dear," she teased, kissing his arm as she hugged him. "Still mine an' I find ye verra attractive."

A smile tugged at his lips. "No accounting for taste," he said, and yelped again as she poked him. "Okay, okay. I'm in a weird mood and should just go to bed with my beautiful fiancee. I know."

"Good answer." Feeling playful, and partily to counter act his mood, Moira gave him a nip on the arm, snickering as he yelped once more. "Tha's cute," she commented, going to turn the bed down.

"You bit me," Nathan said, rolling his eyes at her as he finished changing. "I thought we agreed you were only going to do that on special occasions?"

"Ach, 'twas only a nip, ye big baby," Moira said, gigging as she wiggled under the covers. Thinking for a second, she giggled again and then peered up at him over the blankets. "Besides, who says this is nay a special occasion?"

She was thoroughly adorable when she did that. Nathan came over and got into bed, letting his breath out on a sigh at how good it felt to lie down. "What, am I forgetting an anniversary?" he asked, shivering a bit as he pulled the blankets up around them.

"Course nay, I'd be givin' ye more than a wee love bit if'n ye 'ad done tha'," she said honestly as she snuggled into his arms. "Warm." She was either hot or cold, never inbetween these days. It could get rather vexing. "Who says we cannae make up special occassions?"

He kissed her forehead. "Nothing at all," he said, more than willing to play along. "So what's today, then? Any ideas?"

"Hmm. 'ow 'bout...Silly Hat Day? Cain was wearin' tha' silly 'ate I bought 'im all those mont's ago."

"Mmm. You should have told me. I would have... I don't know, borrowed someone's baseball cap with a strange slogan on it." Good grief. It was a good thing Moira liked him even when he was loopy. His arms tightened around her a little. "So what do we do to celebrate Silly Hat Day?" he asked, kissing her again.

Giggling at the thought of him in a hat--any hat, really--Moira snuggled close. "I came up wit' th' idea, ye come up wit' a way ta celebrate," she demanded.

"Chocolate ice cream? Wait, you did that already. Uhhhh... and there's been shirt-stealing, and you bit me once already..." He peered down at her thoughtfully. "Public exhibitionism? Wait, no, we said we weren't going to do that anymore. The library incident."

Moira suddenly turned beat red at the mention of that and went to poke him again. "Tha' was all yer fault," she accused.

"Have I ever denied that? No." Nathan played idly with her hair, smiling a little. "No silver still. Here I thought a full year with me would have had it pure white by now."

"Mmm, I actually thought ye'd give me white 'air while I was on Muir an' ye were elsewhere," she said, smiling at him. "Maybe I'll jus' be a red 'ead forever, won't tha' be nice?"

"Forever young, huh? I think that would be very nice." He shifted a little, unable to quite relax despite being in quite a comfortable position, all in all.

"Ye all right?"

"Just unsettled, still. Too much in my head." He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on breathing deeply, on the feel of her across the link, and nothing else.

The feeling was so familiar now that she didn't even have to think about it and Moira reached across as well, the link opening up wide between their minds. She sent soothing thoughts down towards him, caressing the link as gently as possible.

Maybe he could rest, even if he couldn't sleep. Nahtan smiled. #Love you,# he whispered back down the link. #Both of you.#

#Love ye ta.# Settling down, Moira leaned her head on his shoulder and let herself relax.